FAQ

Videos

We're always adding new videos of tutorials, FDT's features, workflows and new ways of using FDT.
Check out our Videos page.

Flash Tutorials (FDT 4 & 5)

Installing And Running FDT

If you haven't installed FDT, or are having trouble getting FDT to install or launch, check out this tutorial. We'll make sure you have Java installed and walk you through downloading and installing FDT on Windows and OSX.

Flex / AIR Tutorial

See how quickly you can code and run an AIR application with the Flex framework. Similar to the Basic AS3 Tutorial, you'll go a little further by adjusting compiler options and being introduced to some of FDT's Smart Editor features.

Navigating Your Code and FDT's Workspace

With all the ins and outs of an IDE like FDT, a developer can get lost is seemingly endless windows and views. It's important to know how to get around the application and make sure you stay in control of what you're looking at.

Launch Configurations

Eventually, you're going to want to make some tweaks to your .SWF's settings (name, background color, size, frame rate ) as well as start using some advanced features such as viewing your .SWF in a browser.

This tutorial goes over these important topics, as well as introduces FDT's new Launcher Chain feature.

FDT and Ant Tutorial

Ant is a build tool that developers can use to extend FDT. It's an XML based syntax and can be used to extend FDT's built in launcher or used instead of the launcher if developers want to have even more control over their build process. It also has many built in tasks such as uploading to FTP, checking out from .SVN and creating .ZIP files just to name a few.

Intro To Profiling Applications

Creating Code Templates (snippets)

FDT’s code templates, also referred to as code snippets, allow for quick generation of user defined code. Although FDT ships with many templates pre-installed, users can edit existing templates, create new ones and even share templates with other FDT developers.

SDK Management

With the release of FDT 4, developers now have granular control over their SDKs. Not only is adding and removing SDKs to projects easy, you can also easily add and remove specific parts of the SDK you may or may not need. You can also easily manage custom SDKs.

Using FDT's Debugger

FDT Max includes a powerful debugger. During the development process, a debugging tool is useful to help discover and fix bugs. Armed with FDT's debugger, you'll be prepared to crush any bugs that stand in your way.

From Flash Builder To FDT

If the differences between FDT and Flash Builder were boiled down into one word, it would be Flexibility. Beside having powerful code editing features that are missing with Flash Builder, FDT is flexible with your project management whereas Flash Builder is going to harness you with constraints. While, at first, these concepts will seem foreign to the long term Flash Builder user - as you master them you'll quickly understand the power and flexibility they provide.

Font Library Creator

FDT now includes a Font Library Creator. This is a very hand GUI tool that is designed to make font management much, much easier. Developers can use the Font Library Creator to not just add fonts but also control which glyphs and characters are used.

Working With Linked Resources

Some developers like to have source code, either via a folder or .AS files, added to their project that is saved on their workstation outside of their project. The solution for this is to use FDT's 'Linked Resource' feature.

Apparat & FDT

With FDT 4.4, we've began to support Apparat. Apparat is a powerful framework to optimize ABC, SWC and SWF files. It's open source and looks to push the boundaries of ways for Flash developers to enhance their workflows and applications.

Advanced Refactoring

With FDT 5, the team has added powerful refactoring to your workflow. These refactorings have been integrated into our Quick Assist workflow, so you won't be slowed down at all - in fact you'll see how quickly you can restructure your code.

Community Resources

We really appreciate the of efforts the FDT community, it's a big part of what makes FDT so great. Check out our Community Resources page to learn about tutorials and tips that fans of FDT have created.

Online Workshops

Every Last Tuesday of the month at 9 to 10am (PST)

Join our next Live Broadcast FDT4 workshop. Register here to keep you informed on the latest activities.

The sessions will be contingent on the audience attending.
Tell us what we should cover when you register.

You will learn how to use FDT or help getting started, while covering some of latest new features.
This is also an opportunity to discuss code and best practices developing multi-target applications in ActionScript, Flex or haXe for the Desktop, Mobile and Web.

Most of all, this is also a great opportunity to ask any question directly to the FDT team and give us feedback.

Project Template Syntax

Ant Tasks

Ant is a tool that allows developers to extend FDT and automate various tasks. It's XML based and easy to learn. Ant on it's own has many built in tasks, and even better, FDT has various Ant tasks of it's own for you to use.